The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1887-10-15
THE ELECTION.

XA NCIS VIZ hoNS hOt Nv
Es ours. He is routed, horse. foot and
kdragoons. Of his nine divisions not
one but has succumbed. The eight
Townships of Lafayette county and the
city of Lexington have each and all
declared against the meddlesome inter-
ference of the law with the private
habits of the citizen. They have re-
pudiated and rejected prohibition with
a unanimity which speaks in language
that is u~nmistakable.
The canvass is over, and however
hard it may be to hear the Paritanical
and fanatical taunt that those who OPP
pose prohibition ale advocates or apol-
ogists for intemperance, the victor can
afford to be ~magnanimous and to cove
with the mantle Of charity the intoler-
ance of the vanquished.
The majority against the Wood law,
both in the city and county, is such
that none but an idiot would presume
to charge the anti-prohibition vote to
the incorporate and lawless element OF
the county. For very nearly every
drunkard who has voted for the law
there was another weakhng who
voted for the law with the delusive
idea that it would help him to resist
temptation which he lacked the man.
illness to do of himself.
The orators upon the stump against
the law were as sober, as honest, as
able, and as God fearing men as their
opponents. The newspapers OF the
county which opposed the law did so
courteously and fairly, and even con-
siderately. They itnpugned no mans
honesty because he was a prohibition
list; they accommodated nobody from
the church militant or the church
political because he differed from
them, and they entertained their views
as honestly and as conscientiously as
men could.
The contest is over. The battle is
fought. Let the bitterness of it die
out. The law wisely provides that it
cannot be re-submitted for four years,
so that even if it stands the test of the
supreme court, this acrimonious dis
cussion cannot 500 again wantonly be
brought upon the people.
No man must make the mistake to
suppose that opposition to prohibition
means Endorsement of intemperance;
that the advocacy of personal liberty
means the condoning of license. Far
from it. No men will more readily
deny this by their words and acts than
the men of Lafayette county who last
Thursday showed under at the polls
the idea that they are incompetent to
know what is good for them to buy and
use. The saloon Was not the issue,
prohibition aOas. Now all men, upon
one side as we'll as upon the other,
emphatically say, let the laws be
strictly enforced. We have a law
which forbids the sale of liquor to
habitual drunkards, which forbids the
sale OF liquor. to minors, which provides
a remedy TO the relatives of a drunkard
against the sale to him of any liquors,
which forbids the sale of liquor upon
Sunday. These provisions should be
cheerfully obeyed by the men who are
lawfully selling liquors, but where they
are disobeyed the strong arm of the
law should mete out the punishment
provided.
The anti prohibitionists will a
little. They have a right to; they have
won a great victory, more far reaching
in its effects than they dream of, per-
haps, for prohibition is II of those
insidious isms which leads on to other
tsms as bad if not worse. But let
them enjoy their victory with modera-
ton. Taunts or threats or imputations
upon those who differ from them in
opinion are neither manly nor condu
Give to good. Let US rejoice at the
great, the overwhelming, the decisive
success which we have achieved, and
let us do SO in a way that will show to
all the world that we are worthy of it.
81 believe that Cleveland will pile up
the biggest majority next year that
has ever been given a presidential IAN
didate," said Col. Joe Hickey to a st.